In the silent pre-dawn city hours - alone with his thoughts about Rina Lazarus, the woman he loves, 3,000 miles away in New York - L.A.P.D. detective Peter Decker finds a small child, abandoned and covered in blood that is not his. It is a sobering discovery, and a perplexing one, for nobody in the development where she was found steps forward to claim the little girl. Obsessed more deeply by this case than he imagined possible, Decker is determined to follow the scant clues to an answer.

Day of Atonement

Peter Decker of the L.A.P.D. never dreamed he'd be spending his honeymoon with his new wife, Rina Lazarus, in an Orthodox Jewish enclave in Brooklyn, New York or that a terrible event would end it so abruptly. But a boy has vanished from the midst of this close-knit religious community, a troubled youth fleeing the tight bonds and strictures he felt were strangling him. The runaway, Noam, is not traveling alone. A killer has taken him under his wing to introduce Noam to a savage world of blood and terror.

Sacred and Profane: A Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus Novel

Los Angeles Police Detective Peter Decker had grown very close to Rina's young sons, Sammy and Jake, as he had to their mother, and he looked forward to spending a day of his vacation camping with the boys. A nice reprieve from the grueling work of a homicide cop - until Sammy stumbles upon a gruesome sight.

False Prophet: A Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus Novel

LAPD Detective Peter Decker doesn’t know quite what to make of Lilah Brecht. The beautiful, eccentric spa owner and daughter of a faded Hollywood legend, Lilah was beaten, robbed, and raped in her own home - and claims to have psychic powers that enable her to see even more devastating events looming on the horizon. With his heart and mind on his pregnant young wife, Rina Lazarus, at home, Peter finds it hard to put much credence in the victim’s outrageous claims, or to become too deeply involved....

Grievous Sin: A Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus Novel

The birth of their baby girl has filled Rina Lazarus and her husband, LAPD Homicide Detective Peter Decker, with joy mingled with sorrow, since complications have ensured that they can have no more children. But the situation is grim at the hospital, which has been devastated by severe budget cutbacks and staff shortages. And when a respected nurse vanishes along with a newborn from the nursery, Peter and Rina fear for the safety of their own precious child.

Sanctuary: A Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus Novel

A diamond dealer and his entire family have mysteriously disappeared from their sprawling Las Angeles manor, leaving the estate undisturbed and their valuables untouched. Investigating detective Decker is stumped - faced with a perplexing case riddled with dead ends. Then a second dealer is found murdered in Manhatten, catapulting Decker and his wife, Rina, into a heartstopping maze of murder and intrigue that spans the globe... only to touch down dangerously in their own backyard.

Justice: A Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus Novel

The cruel and bizarre slaying of a beautiful teen leads Detective Decker into the dark heart of an exotic subculture: the seamy, sometimes violent world of Southern California's rootless, affluent youth. But even the confession of a disturbed kid with cold "killer eyes" cannot soothe Decker's inner torment. For he knows in his gut this crime goes much deeper and higher than anyone expects - and that true justice, brutal and complete, has yet to be done.

Prayers for the Dead: A Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus Novel

The brutal murder of Dr. Azor Sparks in an alley behind a restaurant is greeted with public outrage and a demand for swift, sure justice. But the investigation into the well-known surgeon's death is raising too many questions and providing too few answers for homicide detective Lieutenant Peter Decker. , for example, would the family of a man so beloved respond to his slaying with more surprise than grief? And what linked a celebrated doctor with strict fundamentalist beliefs to a gang of outlaw bikers?

Serpent's Tooth: A Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus Novel

A man walks into a trendy Los Angeles restaurant - a disgruntled ex-employee with an automatic weapon - and seconds later, thirteen people are dead and thirty-two more have been wounded. It is a heinous act of mass slaughter that haunts Homicide Detective Peter Decker. But, though eyewitnesses saw only the lone gunman - who apparently took his own life after his bloody work was done - evidence suggests more than one weapon was fired.

The Ritual Bath: The First Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus Novel

Detective Peter Decker of the LAPD is stunned when he gets the report. Someone has shattered the sanctuary of a remote yeshiva community in the California hills with an unimaginable crime. One of the women was brutally raped as she returned from the mikvah, the bathhouse where the cleansing ritual is performed.

Jupiter's Bones: A Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus Novel

Once, Dr. Emil Euler Ganz was a preeminent astrophysicist with a world-renowned reputation. But then he vanished without any warning to his family or colleagues. Fifteen years later, he reappeared as "Father Jupiter", the founder and charismatic leader of the scientific cult, The Order of the Rings. And now he's dead - a vial of sleeping pills and an empty bottle of vodka standing near his lifeless body.

Stalker: A Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus Novel, Book 12

Cynthia Decker became a cop against her father, Peter Decker's, wishes. But police work is in her blood, and she's determined to make it on her own -- even now, when her razor sharp instincts for danger are telling her that something is very wrong... The signs are impossible to ignore: things being moved around in her apartment, the destruction of personal effects. But it's a harrowing trip down a dark canyon road that confirms Cindy's worst fears. Someone fiendishly relentless, and with decidedly evil intentions, is stalking her.

The Forgotten: A Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus Novel

Rina Lazarus and her husband, LAPD Homicide Lieutenant Peter Decker, are shocked by an outrage that cuts close to the spiritual heart of their family. Rina's small storefront synagogue has been desecrated with anti-Semitic graffiti and grisly Nazi death camp photographs. The alleged perpetrator is 17-year-old Ernesto Golding, a "rich kid" obsessed with haunting suspicions about the origins of his Polish paternal grandfather.

The Burnt House

A small commuter plane carrying 47 passengers crashes into an apartment building, and LAPD Lieutenant Peter Decker works overtime to calm rampant fears. But a grisly mystery lives inside the plane's wreckage: the unidentified bodies of four extra travelers. And there is no sign of an airline employee who was supposedly on the catastrophic flight.

Blindman's Bluff

LAPD homicide detective Peter Decker and his wife, Rina Lazarus, will be blindsided by a brutal multiple murder in this twisting tale of suspense from New York Times best-selling author Faye Kellerman.

The Mercedes Coffin

Billionaire genius Genoa Greeves never got over the shocking death of her favorite teacher, Bennett "Dr. Ben" Alston Little, murdered execution-style and stuffed into the trunk of his Mercedes-Benz. No arrests were ever made, no killer charged for the brutal crime. Fifteen years later, the high-tech CEO reads about another execution-style murder; this time the victim is a Hollywood music producer named Primo Ekerling.

Hangman: A Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus Novel

Fifteen years ago, high school senior Chris Whitman went to jail for murdering his girlfriend, Cheryl Diggs. Propelled by a misguided sense of chivalry, he confessed, determined to save another classmate, the beautiful and vulnerable Terry McLaughlin, from having to testify at his trial. When the truth came out, Chris was released from prison, married Terry - pregnant with his child - and changed his last name to Donatti. He also became a professional killer.

Gun Games: A Decker/Lazarus Novel

LAPD lieutenant detective Decker and his wife, Rina, have willingly welcomed fifteen-year-old Gabriel Whitman into their home. While the enigmatic teen seems to be adapting easily, Decker knows only too well the secrets adolescents keep - witnessed by the tragic suicide of another teen, Gregory Hesse, a student at Bell and Wakefield, one of the city’s most exclusive prep schools. Gregory’s mother refuses to believe her son shot himself and convinces Decker to look deeper. What he finds disturbs him. The gun used in the tragedy was stolen....

Stone Kiss

Murder hits close to home as the brother-in-law of Decker’s half-brother is found dead in a seedy hotel room. Missing from the scene is the dead man’s 15 year-old-niece. Pete finds the girl in the last place anyone would think to look, and soon devastating family secrets emerge.

Audible Editor Reviews

Mitch Greenberg adopts a straightforward, down-to-earth narrative tone for Faye Kellerman's third outing in the Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus mystery series. While out for a late night walk and worrying whether or not Orthodox Jewish widow Rina Lazarus will marry him, Decker comes upon a 2-year-old, out alone, covered in blood and bee stings. Greenberg uses subtle vocal changes to distinguish minor characters from one another and is especially effective with women's and toddler's voices. His New York City and Yiddish accents are spot-on, and, as the mystery of the child's identity unfolds, Greenberg keeps the humanity real and the tension high.

Publisher's Summary

In the silent pre-dawn city hours - alone with his thoughts about Rina Lazarus, the woman he loves, 3,000 miles away in New York - L.A.P.D. detective Peter Decker finds a small child, abandoned and covered in blood that is not his. It is a sobering discovery, and a perplexing one, for nobody in the development where she was found steps forward to claim the little girl. Obsessed more deeply by this case than he imagined possible, Decker is determined to follow the scant clues to an answer.

But his trail is leading him to a killing ground where four bodies lie still and lifeless. And by the time Rina returns, Peter Decker is already held fast in a sticky mass of hatred, passion, and murder - in a world where intense sweetness is accompanied by a deadly sting.

The story is acturally a good one...I don't know if reader is given an exact script...this has so many He said She said and He asked She asked that it becomes so annoying you want to scream......get rid of that format and you have a keeper.......

Detective Pete Decker finds a little girl on patrol one night, and in his quest to find out who she is and who she belongs to, uncovers a grisly quadruple murder scene.

This is a tough review to write. The overall mystery involving the little girl and the murders was good, and the only real reason I kept listening. But, and this is a big one for me, Pete Decker is a pig. He's verbally abusive to his fiancee on several occasions, and treats her like she's a little girl. "You only talk to other men if I'm with you" "You can't handle my car, take the Jeep instead, it's easier to drive" and to another detective "Don't talk like that in front of my woman. She's too good to hear that language". It was ridiculous and really hard to read. Well, hear. There were a lot of characters portrayed as really backwoods, and the n-word was sprinkled liberally throughout the story, making me cringe every time I heard it. I understand that people who think and talk like that exist, but not in my world. It's not something I hear a lot.

The way women are treated in general in this book is bothersome. Even Decker's partner, Detective Marge Dunn, is referred to as "little lady" constantly, and told to wait in the car while Decker does the dirty work, or pointedly ignored while "the men are talking". There are several references to "those women's libbers" as well. I'm trying really hard to put this in the context of when it was written, but it was published in 1990. And while I have no doubt this attitude was still present at the time, I don't recall it being quite as blatant as it is here.

(Side thought - The time the book was set was a little confusing to me. It was published in 1990 - is it set there, as well? It seemed to me that it was; there were beepers and pay phones, but also rotary phones at the station. If that's the case, given the fact that the Pete/Rina series is still being published, are all the books set in the early 90s? Or are they present day? Do Pete and Rina age in real time, or do they stay about where they are in this book while the world around them changes? I guess I won't know unless I keep reading, but Pete was born in 1950, so he'd be in his early 60s in 2013. That seems well past the standard 20 or 25 years most cops put in. But if Kellerman keeps him in his 40s, that would change a lot of the dynamic, since Pete's experiences in Vietnam had a huge impact in making him who he is, as they did everyone involved. And his caveman attitude would have to undergo some major changes in order for him to fit in in 2013.)

Pete's one saving grace to me is that by the end of the book, he seemed to realize that he has some anger issues and is a pig at times, and he seemed to want to make a genuine effort to change. That's the one reason I'll read at least one more in this series. I'll at least give him a chance to redeem himself.

The narration of this book was somewhat off-putting. Enough that I'll probably just read any more in this series, not listen to them, at least not if they're narrated by Mitch Greenberg. His reading of the main characters was fine, but all of the male side characters sounded like Rodney Dangerfield. Every one of them. Some times a straight Rodney, sometimes a hillbilly Rodney, sometimes a southern Rodney, but all of them sounded like Rodney. And there were several bizarre musical breaks in the audio. I have no idea what was happening with those. They weren't between chapters or scenes, or parts, and they weren't consistent. Suddenly I'd just be listening to 30-45 seconds of weird music, then back to the story.

Overall, I listened to this as fast as I could because I wanted to get through it and find out the answer to the murder mystery, but not because I was enjoying my listening experience. I'd recommend it only to people who really want to read this series, though.

This is going to sound sexist: I am surprised these books are written by a woman.

I’m continuing to enjoy the development of Peter and Rina’s relationship in this series, but the language in the cop-dramas is getting a little cringe-worthy! I admit I swear a lot, but not like this. This is really crass!

It’s the kind of foul language “good ol’ boys” might use.. lot’s of N-word and W-word being tossed about like it’s normal vernacular...

I liked this installment in the series, even though some of the writing, when spoken aloud, was awkward, e.g., "he said" repeated for an entire scene. I'm surprised an editor didn't catch it. Also, I would have liked to have heard more Rina in the book. Otherwise it was a fun, entertaining book. The narrator was terrific.

Decker has only one hard-to-believe adult temper tantrum in Milk and Honey. This time we actually get an explanation of where his toddler behavior comes from. Furthermore, Rina has a much more appropriate response, rather than her erstwhile passive love-struck attitude. We also observe his receipt of some down-and-dirty anger management.

Finally, we get to know Marge better through her adoption of her own case and we meet a fascinating character from Decker's past. The intertwined plots are kept identifiable as are the numerous criminals and victims. Mitch Greenberg's narration is partially responsible for the clear separation of distinct personalities. There are a couple of female voices that are a bit jarring, but I am glad that I stuck with the first two books to get to this one.

Probably not. Our reading hours are too short; so why go for an average book? I do remember reading this when it was newly released in 1990 and I liked it much better then than I do today. Some of what turned me off was the use of the n-word, and some views that seem close-minded to me today.

I will say that I didn't guess the culprit right up front. The ending had an element of surprise to me and that is always a good thing when reading a mystery.

This was a good murder mystery, kept me guessing to the end. There was a lot of Jewish Orthodoxy references and bad language, like liberal use of the n-word. This was an old book, 1990, so it might have been more prevalent at that time, plus the thinking of the families the story centered around.

The story centered around the finding of a young child late at night with blood on her clothes. First they had to figure out where she came from and then who had done what they found at her home.

There were also a couple side stories around the main mystery. One was the relationship between Decker and an old army buddy. There were some disturbing scenes in that story line. Decker also seems to have some anger issues that he finally acknowledges and starts seeking help for.

I thought the narrator was fine. He wasn't too bad on the female voices, although his range was a little limited on the other male characters.

I couldn't tell if it was the writing or the naration. Likely a little of the writing and a whole lot of the narration. Good narration can help divert one's attention from poor writing but in this case the voice inflection during character dialog was completely unbelievable. It was a chore to complete the read.

I didn't look closely and purchased this book because I thought it was new one in the series, but it is actually very old. I think the reader is terrible - I don't know if I will even finish listening. The combination of a slow moving plot and a monotonous reader make the whole book seem tedious. I have enjoyed the later books in this series, but this one is not worth the money.

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